I've recently added exercise to my daily routine and as my calories were quite low already should I add calories to account for my exercise? I've steadily lost approx 2 lbs a week with no set exercise routine but now I need to tighten up and strengthen some of my more saggy body parts. lol So I'm adding exercise. I'll be burning approx 200 cal a day, so if I add 200 to my food intake I should still be able to lose weight. If I don't add any more intake my calorie intake(when factored in with the exercise) would be under 1000 cal a day which is what I don't want. Have I confused you yet?? I am. Thanks in advance for any replies.

in theory, yes. Weight Loss is, at it's bare core, as simple as burning more calories than you consume. so if you are burning 200 more calories than before you should be able to eat those 200 calories and still lose weight.

How many calories are you already consuming?

I personally don't use exercise as an excuse to add more. So long as you are at 1200 or over, whatever your daily activity level is you should still be fine eating what you are used to. I don't like to eat calories I've burned off (this topic has come up before, and I think I've said that before). Calories in and calories out is pretty easy to calculate on a food basis, but exercise intensity and effect can vary so much I think of it as something I'm going to have to do for the rest of my life, not an excuse to eat a little more.

Thanks for the replies. You see the problem is I was only eating 1100 cals a day and losing very well but I wanted to start exercising to tone up. With the exercise added in I would be around 900 cals, which is why I'm adding in the extra 200cals a day to account for it. I'm not trying to use exercise as an excuse to eat more, I have that part of it under control, I just don't want to stall out because I'm not eating enough. Anyway, I guess all I can do is try it for a while and see how it works.

Are you asking if you SUBTRACT the calories burned from the exercise from the food you eat? I don't think it works that way. If you eat 1100 cals/day, then that's what you eat. The 200 calories burned comes in as part of your deficit for the day, but doesn't subtract from what you ate.

Let's say you need 2000 cals/day to maintain your weight (I picked that number out of the sky). You eat 1100/day, which puts you at a 900 cal/day deficit. Multiply that times 7 (days in a week), and you get 6300/calories. ALmost 2 pounds/week.

Add in the exercise and at a most basic level, you are burning an additional 200 cals/day, 1400/week... another just under 1/2 pound. In real life, the math isn't that simple, but it may be a place to start.

Unless everyone here tells me I'm wrong!